Sanders surges in N.H., Trump's numbers strong as ever
Labor Day is often seen as the unofficial kickoff to the campaign season and nearly every presidential candidate will be out on the trail, reports CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes.
Six of them will be in the early primary state of New Hampshire: four Republicans and two Democrats, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who will be attending an AFL-CIO breakfast and celebrating some stunning new poll numbers in the Granite State.
The latest New Hampshire poll finds Sanders pulling away from Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, 49 percent to her 38 percent.
Just two months ago, she was leading Sanders by 13 points in a state she won against Barack Obama in 2008.
In a statement, the Sanders campaign said, "The more voters get to know Bernie, the better they like him."
But Clinton didn't say a word about Sanders this weekend, aiming her fire instead on Republican front-runner Donald Trump in in New Hampshire Saturday.
"I do find a lot of what he says pretty ridiculous," she said.
She continued the tone in Iowa Sunday, saying, "This is just the kind of political rhetoric that doesn't belong in our election."
Trump hit back on Twitter.
Hillary said such nasty things about me, read directly off her teleprompter...but there was no emotion, no truth. Just can't read speeches!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2015
Trump voters seemed unfazed by the Republican front-runner's recent stumble on a popular conservative radio talk show when discussing militant leaders in the Middle East.
"As far as the individual players, of course I don't know them. I've never met them," he said on "The Hugh Hewitt Show."
Twenty nine percent of Republicans in Iowa and 28 percent in New Hampshire now say they favor the brash billionaire, according to a recent NBC News/Marist Poll.
Those are his strongest poll numbers yet.
In a hypothetical 2016 match-up, he beats Clinton in Iowa by 5 points.
Trump's rise has come at the expense of career politicians like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who led the GOP field in Iowa earlier this summer, but whose support has since shrunk from 19 percent to 5 percent.
"They're gonna be ups and downs in polling along the way, but our key is to stay true to who we are," he said.
Vice President Biden, who is mulling a run, is marching in a parade in Pittsburgh Monday with labor leader Richard Trumka, who had glowing things to say about Biden last week.
And that's not insignificant. Labor unions gave $61 million to the Democratic Party in 2012, and could be key if Biden decides to jump into the race and needs to raise money quickly.
There are just 147 days until the Iowa caucuses and 155 days until the New Hampshire primary.